Holy SHIT. This was really good, and it makes me really excited to read "The Maidens" later. The twist on this was kinda confusing to me at first, because I didn't realize that it was telling two different time periods, BUT IT WAS REALLY COOL once I wrapped my head around that. Everyone here SUCKS and I loved reading about it. The interspersion of the diary entries, the slow reveal of how Fucked Up the psychotherapist is... oh, man, this was such a cool read and I'd highly recommend it.
Did not finish. An update: I'm about halfway through, and I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to finish it. The first half of this book gave me "Blair Witch Project" vibes, which I LOVED, but the second half follows the one survivor as he deals with more stuff, and I just... don't know if I care enough to finish it. I don't like the character, and so far the vibes aren't Off enough to keep me engaged. I'll keep listening to it on my commutes, but if I don't finish it before my loan is up, I won't be too upset. Second update: Yeah, I gave up. I tried listening to the rest of it, I really did, but I just did NOT care anymore. In my mind, the Creature killed them all in the forest, and they were never heard from again. Oh, well!
This book is visceral and bloody and fucking GOOD. I am neither trans nor autistic, but it was SO cool to read from the perspective of a trans autistic man. There was gore. There were spirits. Everyone is messed up and everyone has flaws. I had to cover the pages with my hands to stop myself from skipping ahead whole paragraphs because I was so engrossed in this book. I do really identify with the MC wanting to be a surgeon - I wanted to be a doctor for so long, and it hurts that I'm not. Anyway, 10/10 book, I'm absolutely reading more by this author because holy SHIT does he do well with body horror and grisly descriptions that just make you Uncomfy.
Alright, I wanted to read this book because my coworker described it as "heinous", and I was like "sign me the fuck up." Honestly, the only part of it that was heinous to me was the double-penetration bit with the two brothers. Sure, it's a lil fucked up because they're her cousins (but really only legally, because the uncle is her step-uncle, so no blood relation). Sure, there's a weird age gap dubious consent concern when she fucks her step-uncle. But you know what was heinous? Den of Vipers. Four men at once. Like, this was just NOT as spicy as I was expecting. And for the first half of the book, there was NOTHING! And the last quarter of the book was also nothing! Stupid and emotional - I wanted SMUT, dammit. Anyway, this book was fine. I'm glad I didn't buy it, though.
Alright, so this author is phenomenal, BUT I do think I had a better experience with the physical book than I did with an audiobook. I read "The Silent Patient" with a physical book, but this one I listened to, and it really affected my enjoyment of the book. The first 20% of the book was really slow because it was all backstory for the main character, but it was important to building up my impression of her. I feel like I wouldn't have felt like it was such a drag if I had read it. I didn't feel that way with "The Silent Patient." But regardless, this book was fuckin' good, AND it had a really cool tie to Silent Patient!!! I was so excited! I thought I would be able to guess the killer, but I was wrong as hell, and I'm so glad I was. This was so cool.
Started reading this and couldn't get into it at first, so I'm putting it on hold for later!
I wavered on whether or not I wanted to even include these in either this website or my Storygraph account. I've read most of this series before, so I didn't want to count the books towards my reading goal, but I also wanted to gush about them somewhere, so I figured I'd put it here but not there!
Anyway, I LOVE this series. Kate Daniels is a mercenary living in Atlanta, GA, in a time where technology and magic go in waves - when one is up, the other doesn't work at all. She takes down big bad monsters using swords and magic, she gets beat up a lot, and she's not perfect. She and the love interest don't get together until book 4, and leading up to it is just SO much sass. She's sarcastic and funny and takes no shit, and would literally die for those she loves. It's great! I really like the magic system in this world, and I love me a modern fantasy. There's vampires (but now how you'd expect). There's shapeshifters. There's family drama. It's got it all! I really love this series.
I sorta burned myself out on reading after reading the entire Kate Daniels series in like four days, so I took a bit of a break. Tried to read some books and couldn't get into it. This book came up on Libby and I decided to give it a try, and I think it was a great reintroduction to reading! It's a sort of grimdark fantasy - I've been warned that many people will die, and the author does not shy away from greusome descriptions of battles and violence. I really enjoyed this book! I like the different points of view, and I'm a surprising fan of one character who is really good at torture, and NOT a fan of some others. There's some really interesting dynamics and I'm excited to read the next ones! I went ahead and bought the next two of the trilogy, so I'll be reading those soon. I'm honestly a bit reminded of the Stormlight Archive.
This one took me a surprisingly long time to read, and I'm not really sure why! I really enjoyed the whole thing, and there was never a time where I dreaded picking it up again... I just simply didn't! So it took me longer than expected, but I'm excited to read the third book. I've already got it downloaded and everything.
It's funny, I should have expected that Jezal's face would get fucked up. You can't spend a whole page and a half waxing poetic about how nice your jaw is and then expect it to NOT get smashed in with a mace. You've got to be realistic about these things.
Wow, I took... quite a long break. I finished "Before They Are Hanged" in early February, and now it's the end of March. I guess I just got burnt out on books. But I finally sat down and said "NO. I'M GONNA READ, DAMMIT" and read this! I did really enjoy it. I'm a huge fan of moderately-sentient houses and dark fantasy, and this was both of those. The romance was cute, if a little rushed - but it's a short book, so I'll forgive that. LOVED the casual bi and lesbian rep in this one. I'm also a big fan of small town stories; how everyone knows each other, and how people tend to look the other way when they know something is wrong. This was a fun read, and I'm glad I finally got around to it!
One book per month... I might not reach my goal of 24 books this year! Anyway, this book was a neat read. It's about the history of our universe, and the most likely way it'll end. (Spoiler: it's probably a heat death, and that is billions of years off. We're fine.) It reminded me of how much I truly love space, and also how much I don't like math... turns out cosmology requires a LOT of math. Sorry, Kid Me, we can't be a space scientist. Kinda made me want to take an astronomy class, although I'm afraid it won't be as interesting as I'm hoping for, since it would just be an intro, and not the really cool shit like dark matter and dark energy and vacuum bubbles. If you're easily freaked out about the inevitable death of the universe, maybe don't read this one, but hey! We can't control it anyway, so no need to worry about it!
I was talking to my mom about how I was having trouble reading lately. I just haven't felt the urge to actually finish a book, or even open new ones. Not really sure what's going on there. She suggested a genre change. I mentioned that I had tried that; I got sick of fantasy, so I read a nonfiction book, and was trying to read a romance, but I just couldn't get into it... and then I thought about a thriller. Maybe a tense page-turner was exactly what I needed. Turns out I was right! This book was a wild ride from start to finish, and had me actually gaping at some spots. I still don't know who was telling the truth, or even how much of it! I burned through this book in like three hours. Very cool read. Starts out as a seemingly innocent meeting of two women who share a birthday (same day, same age, even the same hospital), and then two people end up dead and one hospitalized, and one goes on the run. Intense!
I was recommended this book by a coworker, and it was a bit of a slow start for me at first... mainly because the MC is only 16 when the book starts. And he's ALREADY MARRIED. Talking about how much he loves his wife, thinking he's hot shit. But he very quickly learns he is NOT hot shit, and that's when I started to really like this book. It's got elements of Hunger Games type dystopia, and it's written really well. The slow descent into corruption as he becomes something he hates, and that his family wouldn't recognize... it's very good. I'm looking forward to reading more to see how this revolution goes. It definitely is not going to be pretty, and I appreciate that.
I feel like I've been waiting my whole goddamn life for this. Thank you, sir Paolini, for giving me sustenance and nearly making me cry three separate times while reading this book. Let! Murtagh! and Thorn! Catch! A damn! Break!!!! They deserve the WORLD!!!! (But not in the conquering way.) He set up for a whole new arc, and I'm really excited to see where it goes. Apparently he's planning more stuff in this world, and I cannot fucking WAIT. I'm feral. Fourth Wing was fun, but Paolini IS the template. The OG.